When the boys grow up
by doodle-boop
Summary: Five years after Castiel dies, Sam, Dean, and Charlie get together and their kids meet each other, but Dean's kid unitentionally causes painful memories to come back to the Winchesters. Cute little story, not with any ships, but was just an idea. Kinda half-destiel at the beginning if you look at it the right way.


Tears were falling down his face in streams, almost as if rivers of emotion were in his eyes. The thirty-some hunter held the almost lifeless body of his angel. There was nothing that could be done. The wars in heaven had depleted all of the angels. There was an angel blade poking almost vertically out of Cas's abdomen, and there were no angels left to heal Cas, who had been pierced with the blade only moments before Dean rushed to his side. The blue light of his grace was bursting from the wounds, and ironically, it matched his stunning eyes. Cas looked up at him with those intensely blue eyes, with a sparkle of hope that would sadly not be kindled. Dean was hyperventilating at this point, not wanting to lose the last person other than Sam that actually mattered to him.

"Cas! CAS!" Dean screamed as if there was anything to do to save him. He didn't want to see Cas go. It was absolutely heartbreaking for both of the Winchesters to see their best friend dying in Dean's arms, Dean cradling him as close as possible without causing pain to him. As Cas's eyelids fluttered, he spoke his final words. "Dean, say goodbye to Sam for me. But Dean, I l-love you," He choked out before his breath was gone for good. Dean's tears streamed even harder. He placed his lips up to Cas's forehead and gave him a small kiss, the kiss he deserved while he was alive. Dean repeatedly mouthed the word 'no' but he couldn't find the strength to actually speak the words aloud. He looked at Sam, who was sitting in the corner, hugging his knees close to him and had his head in his lap. Dean looked down and noticed that where his shirt had previously been, were now the scorched marks of Cas's wings. They were permanently burned into his skin. A constant reminder of his angel who fell much too far.

* * *

5 years later

* * *

Sam sat down in the fold up lawn chairs that had been set out, and started talking to his brother, who was watching the kids. The two brothers decided to get together after not seeing each other for a couple of months. The two had retired from hunting, and they settled down with both had a beer in hand and were remembering the good old days. Dean was just about to ask Sam how he had been these past few months when he looked over and saw that his son had fallen off the swing and was calling for help. He darted over to the swing set to help his little kid.

"Hey, Cas, buddy, you okay?" Dean asked him The dark haired child wiped away the tears from his blue eyes and nodded. Dean scooped his four year old son up and carried him into the house to clean up his wounds. He had scraped up his knees pretty bad and his hands had a few cuts, but nothing that Daddy couldn't handle. Sam realized it was getting pretty dark out and decided to call his kids in for the night. His daughter Jo, who was five, ran into the house teasing that Kevin wasn't going to be able to catch her. She was right- a three year old was going to have a tough time catching up to her. Sam chuckled at the game they were playing and closed the door after them. He heard some talking coming from the bathroom, one of the voices belonged to his brother. Sam popped his head in.

"So remember, Castiel, if you take a digger again, of course call me over, but you can shake the owies away," Dean explained to his son, shaking his head crazily in an example. That made little Cas giggle. Cas noticed Sam standing in the doorway.

"Uncle Sam! Hi! I fell and I scraped my knees but Daddy made my owies better by putting my favorite bandaids on them. They have falcons on them because one day I will grow up and I'm going to fly around with wings. Daddy, I'm going to go show Mommy!" Cas beamed with excitement, but as he said that, Sam's smile dropped and he tried to hide the pained emotion that revoked memories. Sam glanced over at Dean, who had a smile on his face but pain in his eyes.

"Well, buddy, you can go play with your cousins again. Just be more careful." Cas ran off to play with Kevin and Jo, and Dean turned to Sam. "Son of a bitch, I swear its the same soul. He knows absolutely nothing about _Cas_ yet he's so similar. But he makes me so happy that I don't care. I love him so much," Dean told Sam. Sam pulled his brother into a hug because he knew it was even more painful for his brother than his self. They took a step back from each other and simultaneously let out a sigh. Out of nowhere, a doorbell went off and Sam heard his wife snickering in the other room. Dean glanced at him with a what is she doing? look, and Sam didn't have the slightest clue. He walked to the front door and decided to open it.

"Ding dong, bitches! It's me! I brought along Tessa by myself because the wifey couldn't make it. Oh well," Charlie greeted the Winchester brothers. Sam was really surprised, partly because he didn't know Charlie and her wife adopted, and partly because he had no idea she knew where he lived. Then it hit him. That's why his wife was laughing in the other room. Sam pulled Charlie into a hug, as did Dean afterwards.

"Tessa, these are my friends Sam and Dean," she explained to the little girl standing behind her mother's legs. "They have some kid's playing in the other room, about your age too, if you want to go play with them." Tessa scampered off to the other room and Charlie smiled.

"Boy, I haven't seen you guys in a while. Mind introducing me to these mysterious kiddos of yours? I just know you have them, not their names or their faces," she finished with a slight laugh. Dean nodded and led them into the playroom.

"Ok, see the blonde girl over in the corner playing with the action figures? That's my daughter Jo. She's a tough girl but she's a sweetheart. Then there's Kevin, over there, with the darker hair, and playing with some building blocks," Sam explained to Charlie. Cas noticed that there was a new person and ran over to his father. Charlie inhaled sharply, almost a full-fledged gasp, when she saw Dean's child.

"Daddy, is this Tessa's mommy?" He asked in his cute, high pitched voice.

"Yeah, buddy, this is Charlie. She's an old friend of ours." He turned to Charlie. "This is my only son, Castiel, or Cas for short." Charlie put her hands over her mouth which was erupting into a secret smile. She hugged Dean. Cas ran back to the other kids after becoming disinterested.

"Dean, he is so adorable! Not that yours aren't either, Sam, in fact they are down right gorgeous, but Dean… he's basically a carbon copy of, _you know_. And it's so sweet you named him after _Cas_," Charlie said in a hushed tone.

"I was telling Sam that I swear it's the same soul, just put in a new body. He's basically a child version of _Cas_, I mean he was even just saying like 15 minutes ago that his favorite animals were falcons because he wants wings to fly," Dean said, his eyes becoming misty on the topic of his old friend. "I love him no matter what. He's my little kiddo." Charlie smiled at him and started telling Dean and Sam all about how she came to adopt her little girl four years ago. The three talked for hours, catching up, leaving Sam and Dean's wives talking in the other room. They were interrupted when Jo came stomping into the room.

"Daddy, can Cas and Tessa stay over and have a huge sleepover party? No stinky Kevins allowed though," she asked with a devilish grin. Sam looked at Dean for an answer and Dean just shrugged. Charlie nodded her head as a yes on her part.

"Hey, Jo. Why don't you go ask Mommy? I'm sure she will know. It's fine with me but just ask her ok?" Sam told Jo. She nodded her head and ran off.

"You guys can even stay here, we have a spare bedroom and an office with an inflatable mattress in the closet, so theres enough bedding for you guys to be here," Sam informed the other two. Dean gave it consideration, and responded.

"That seems fine with me as long as Cas wants to stay here." Just as he said that, Jo came flying around the corner with a huge smile.

"Daddy! Mommy said they could as long as we promised to let Kevin play with us."

"That's great! Why don't you head up to your room to get your pajamas on? Then once everyone is comfy, we can watch a movie," Sam responded in a calm tone. Cas walked over to their table.

"Daddy, Jo wants me to stay here but you know I can't sleep without my teddy bear Alfie. I want to stay but Alfie is more important." He had a sad look in his eyes. Dean instantly thought of something.

"Hold on, Cas. I'll be right back. Hang for a sec with Uncle Sammy and Charlie for a bit. I just have to run to the car. Or, you can go show Mommy and Auntie Gen your cool falcon bandaids. I'm sure they'd love to hear about those." Dean walked out the back door to the car to grab Cas's backpack full of extra clothes and supplies they needed whenever they left the house. Dean's wife, Daneel, had packed Alfie just in case. He grabbed the whole bag since he would need his pajamas anyway. He headed back towards the house with a grin on his face knowing he would cheer up lil' Cas by bringing him Alfie.

"... and they fly around like this! I want to fly just like the falcons someday. That's my dream, to grow wings and fly like a falcon." Dean heard Cas talking to the girls about his bandages. It made him chuckle a bit at the thought of him running around impersonation a falcon.

"Hey Cas, guess who I have!" Dean yelled through the house. He heard the little pitter-patter of his son's feet as he came around the corner and gave Dean's legs a big hug.

"You brought Alfie? You're the best dad ever!" Cas shrieked with happiness as he grabbed Alfie and ran off.

Sam, Charlie, Gen, and Daneel were setting up blankets in the living room so that all the kids could sleep together. Charlie laughed as Sam came down the stairs with four pilliows stacked up in his arms, and he still had to get a fifth. Dean came out of the spare bedroom with Cas, whom he had just helped get changed into his pajamas. Once Dean had reunited with the adults, they tucked the kids into their blankets oldest to youngest, Jo at one end and Kevin at the other, filled with Tessa and Cas. They started playing a Disney movie, one that neither Dean nor Sam had seen due to their rough childhood, so they sat down on the couch to watch, while at the same time making sure their little ones fell asleep.

By the time all of the children fell asleep, Charlie had gone to the office where her bed was, and started reading because she thought that was a better way to waste her time. Gen and Daneel had gone to bed, leaving Sam and Dean behind to finish the movie. The two made sure that the lights were off and that all of the children were asleep before going to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a hectic breakfast.

Castiel was the first up, and he woke his parents up first by running down the hallway and into their temporary room.

"Mommy! Daddy! The sun is up and you should be too! Alfie says good morning," he practically shouted to them. Dean groaned and stretched, smiling at his energetic child sitting mere inches away from his face. He noticed Daneel had pulled the blankets over her head in attempt to get more sleep. He chuckled at that until Cas noticed too.

"Mommy! The sun is up! Let's go eat breakfast!" he said while pulling the covers away from her face. She sat up and half smiled at him.

"Well look who's up this morning! I'll give you a hint, it's not me and it's not Daddy," she joked to Cas. He giggled and pointed to himself.

When the three walked out to the kitchen, everyone else had already gotten up and Sam was making pancakes for everyone. He handed a couple plates and some coffee to Dean to spread out to the table. The kids, as expected, had syrup everywhere by the time they were done. Several baths were drawn, and several children were washed up.

Dean was washing Cas up when the question he was waiting to hear came up, but he didn't expect it so soon.

"Daddy, why did you name me Castiel? Out of all the names, why Castiel?"

"Oh, it was the name of a friend I had a while ago, before I met Mommy and before you were born .Uncle Sam knew him too."

"Can I meet him? I want to know if his favorite animal is a falcon too so that when we both get wings, we can fly together, two falcon people named Cas." Dean felt like his heart shattered into a million pieces. He was trying to think of a way to tell Cas that _Cas_ was dead.

"I don't think so. He's not with us anymore. He's in heaven now. There's one really special thing, though. I think his favorite animal was a falcon. He even got wings, see?" Dean told Cas as he proceeded to take his shirt off and showed Cas the burn marks in his skin from the angel.

"Daddy, why are they burned there? Why did his wings burn up?"

"Because when he died, h-he was in my arms, and when people grow wings, they burn when they die." Dean told Cas in the best way he could. Cas saw the single tear rolling down his cheek and leaned forward in the bathtub to give his dad the biggest hug he could, while also putting bubbles on Dean's neck, making them both laugh hysterically.

By the time Dean, Daneel, and Charlie helped Sam and Gen clean up the house, Daneel decided it was a good time to leave. They got packed up and said goodbyes, and the little ones gave each other big hugs. Cas pulled on his rainboots that were too big and pulled his monkey hat on. Dean buckled Cas into his car seat in the back, and Cas motioned for him to move closer.

"Daddy, I was thinking, if wings burn like that when humans get them, I think I'm fine without wings. I'll just ride in planes if I want to fly." Cas gave Dean a smile, and Dean took a deep breath in.

"I love you, Cas. Don't ever change, buddy," Dean told him as he gave him a kiss on the forehead before getting into the front seat and driving home.


End file.
